Apple Watch reaction round-up

All the opinions worth hearing on Apple's first wearable now it's available to pre-order

As you may have heard, the Apple Watch is now available to pre-order, and to try on in Apple Stores all around the world (plus a few pop-up shops in swanky department stores in London, Paris and Tokyo).

The Verge was at all three pop-up shops. The Tokyo store left everyone confused as to which queue they should be in, the Paris one sounds like it was a little underwhelming, and the London one wasn't as luxurious as expected. All three were attended mostly by men, most of who were journalists.

Rob Price from Business Insider tried on all three models at the Apple Store in Covent Garden. "I have come away sorely disappointed," he writes.

It's not the device that disappointed, but the experience. For the standard and Sport models, the actual unit you try on is unresponsive and just runs pre-programmed demos. There is a proper working model, but it's secured in a display unit so you can't wear it. In other words, you can try it on, and you can try it out, but not at the same time.

The staff were very helpful for the standard and Sport models. But for the Apple Watch Edition it was a different matter altogether. The assistant had to look up the answer to most questions – not the kind of customer service you'd expect when splashing out upwards of £8,000 on a watch. It also wasn't a fully functioning model, so you can't play with it properly.

You can't buy the device in shops, and if rumours are correct, you won't in the UK even come April 24. Instead, you'll have to order online and wait for delivery. In an Apple Store, staff will help you do so using an in-store computer. Why? It's to get rid of those pesky queues that form days in advance outside Apple Stores.

Apple is also running low on stock, something Angela Ahrendts, its retail supremo, warned of. Many models are now listed on the website as shipping in four to six weeks, while some are as late as August. Not ideal.

And what does arch rival Samsung make of all this? Rory O'Neill, Samsung's vice president for mobile in Europe, told CNBC he's delighted.

Asked about Apple's entry into the smartwatch market, he said, "Great competitors offer great things to consumers and the fact that there are so many great competitors in this space mean there is absolutely a market.

"We've over 70 per cent market share of the smartwatch market in Europe and we can learn from those early iterations of our product... It is with great delight that Apple has followed us into that market."

Whether he's as delighted in a few months, we'll have to wait and see.